¡¿Say What?!

This post is really directed to two groups, pet owners and parents. Not necessarily in that order.

My sister is constantly bringing her dogs over to our place so I can watch them. She babysits for her friend and her daughter is deathly afraid of animals. All animals. You can’t even have the Discovery channel on if this little girl is over. My sister is kind enough, no caring and compassionate enough to rid her house of her pets so she can do her friend a favor by keeping an eye on her daughter.

The girl’s mother has a dog as a pet. It’s just a poodle however the girl doesn’t like animals at all. What kind of a parent would do that to a child? I’m inconvenienced as is my sister because it seems we care more about this little girl than her parents do. What do you think? Feel free to comment even if you don’t fall into either category. As for me, I can’t believe how little regard this ‘mother’ has for her kid.

i agree with ostrix – this post struck me as a ‘say what?!’ not because of the mother’s poodle, but about the little girl’s reaction to animals. most kids love animals, with the occasional one afraid of dogs. it’s good to safely introduce kids to animals so they know how to safely interact with them and can live a normal, fulfilling life. (can you imagine growing up afraid of ALL animals?)

of course, i don’t know the history here, but i don’t think there’s anything wrong with the poodle at the mom’s house. if anything, she could learn to trust said poodle and open up to other animals. heck, maybe your sister could try slowly, carefully introducing her to her dogs. not only would it probably be more convenient for her and you, it would be doing the girl a favor!

The question is why the girl is so afraid of animals? There must be a reason and the sooner it is revealed (through psychologists or I don’t know whom), the better. Generally animals are good for kids, but in such case as here, I think it’s kinda of traumatizing…